Ethnic communities slammed by Muslim Cabinet Minister Sajid Javid for failing to tackle domestic violence
The Communities Secretary said 'black, Asian and ethnic women often face particular problems when they try and flee abusive partners'
MUSLIM Cabinet Minister Sajid Javid has called out the country’s ethnic minorities for failing to tackle domestic violence – saying: ‘It cannot continue.’
The Communities Secretary said while violence occurred in every neighbourhood, “black, Asian and ethnic women often face particular problems when they try and flee abusive partners”.
He told the Sun: “Sometimes it’s a cultural issue. Sometimes it’s because people who are supposed to help instead fall back on cultural, ethnic and religious stereotypes.
“What is certain is that it can’t go on.”
The explosive intervention comes just days before a Government commissioned report is expected to say certain religious groups have failed to integrate into British ways of life.
The long-awaited review by the Government’s ‘integration tsar’ Louise Casey is due out next week.
Last year a report claimed that in London 733 black and minority ethnic women sought refuge spaces – but only 154 were successful.
Earlier this month, the Tory high-flyer unveiled a £20 million fund to help victims of domestic abuse in a big victory for the Sun’s ‘Give Me Shelter’ campaign.
Millions from this fund will be used to help support victims of domestic abuse in “isolated and minority ethnic” communities. One project in Slough is thought to be among the first short-listed for funding. Mr
Javid said: “Domestic violence doesn’t discriminate. And neither should our determination to stamp it out.”
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Mr Javid – the son of a Muslim bus driver – was speaking out as agencies and charities marked the UN designated ‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women’.
Charity Refuge claims police receive a domestic assistance call every minute, with a woman assaulted 35 times on average before ringing for help. Activists earlier this week blocked bridges across the UK in protests against the lack of funding for specialist black and minority domestic violence services.
Sister Uncut said the £20 million fund was nothing more than a “sticking plaster on a haemorrhage”. A spokeswoman for the group said the Government was letting down black and minority ethnic (BME) women.
She said: “Many of the services lost in austerity were set up and run by women of colour for women of colour, because generic services did not meet their needs.
“Those needs remain unmet, and women of colour and migrant survivors remain more likely to be trapped in violence, without any support.”
Mr Javid was widely seen as a potential Prime Minister before the Referendum. He is the Conservative’s first British-Pakistani MP. His dad, Abdul, came to Britain in 1961 with just £1 in his pocket and settled in Rochdale. The family moved to Bristol when Sajid was four.